Eminent citizens sought President Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention to allow the Telangana march on September 30, and the carving out of a separate state to take place without further delay.
Former SC judge Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, former chief justice of the AP High Court Justice Sardar Ali Khan, former HC judge Justice Upendra Lal Waghrey, ex-Planning Com-mission member Hanuma-ntha Rao, former CCMB director P. M. Bhargava and others who were signatories to a letter to the Presid-ent, said the march was a democratic right of the people, as enshrined in the Constitution, and the government should not resort to any oppressive measures to crush it or make preventive arrests.
They said all steps should be taken to ensure a peaceful march on September 30. “The democratic demand for the Telangana state today is loud and clear amo-ngst the people across socio, economic and political spectrums. This demand is based not only on numerous instances of discrimination and lack of development, but it is also as much about the self respect and dignity of more than 40 million people of Telangana,” they said. The letter was prompted, they said, by deep concern about recent reports and the general situation, particularly in the context of the international biodiversity conference.